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I picked up 2 rubber toppers from the greenhouse megastore last year out of curiosity. I have been very happy with everything I have purchased before from them, but these were a fail. They dried up and split before the end of the season.

No on to a new project, making new bean teepees!

I should start a thread: How many projects have I started from reading Tville.

Worth, I think you have been the initiator of a few.

__________________Sue

Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.
Mahatma Gandhi

I picked up 2 rubber toppers from the greenhouse megastore last year out of curiosity. I have been very happy with everything I have purchased before from them, but these were a fail. They dried up and split before the end of the season.

No on to a new project, making new bean teepees!

I should start a thread: How many projects have I started from reading Tville.

Worth, I think you have been the initiator of a few.

Sue I am glad I can be of assistance.

Worth

__________________Home ofCactus FlatsBotanical Gardens.
The dinner table is where we need to get acquainted not the battlefield.
I Seek The Truth.

Worth I love it. I built one very similar many years ago for my then young daughter. I planted it with Morning Glories and cherry tomatoes as shrubs in the front. She played for hours in there. She did not care for the flavor of the tomatoes, but they made great toys for the sandbox.
Sadly one day Dad got mad and took the sledge hammer to the frame of her tee pee. I heard her screaming at our sliding doors as she watched him out the window taking down her little world.
That was it for me..........

Worth I love it. I built one very similar many years ago for my then young daughter. I planted it with Morning Glories and cherry tomatoes as shrubs in the front. She played for hours in there. She did not care for the flavor of the tomatoes, but they made great toys for the sandbox.
Sadly one day Dad got mad and took the sledge hammer to the frame of her tee pee. I heard her screaming at our sliding doors as she watched him out the window taking down her little world.
That was it for me..........

Patti that makes me almost want to cry.
I have always had a fondness for little girls, not in a creepy way mind you.
If I would have had children I always wanted to have girls not boys.
I wanted to be able to teach them everything I knew how to do from welding to cooking and gardening.
For someone to make a girl cry or hurt them in any way makes me mad to no end.

Worth

__________________Home ofCactus FlatsBotanical Gardens.
The dinner table is where we need to get acquainted not the battlefield.
I Seek The Truth.

Keep us updated. It brings back many good memories for me too.
I wish that she had a dad like you Worth. It would have been just as colorful but way more fun.

Maybe so.
It reminds me of back when that Jackson feller which was the same age as me got accused of bad things with children.
The dirty minded guys at work were talking about how inappropriate it was for a grown man to take naps with little girls.
One of my friends across the way had a little 6 year old girl and a 11 year old that girl that loved me to death.
On Saturday night they would come over and help me hand load ammunition.
On Sunday we would go to the gun club and shoot the ammunition they loaded.
On some Sundays the 6 year old would have her mom bring her over and hang out with my wife and I when I wanted to take my evening nap she would come take a nap with me.
These children had parents that loved them.
I told the guys at work this and they almost fell over.
I called every one of them perverts for even thinking such a thing.
It would have broken that child's heart to not be able to take a nap with me.
I am white and they are African American to boot.

I'm going to get in my bean Tepee with my cat this summer and hide out.

Worth

__________________Home ofCactus FlatsBotanical Gardens.
The dinner table is where we need to get acquainted not the battlefield.
I Seek The Truth.

Worth... I am so glad I found this thread. Awesome set up. I was just going to start a thread asking about tepee's. One year I tried pvc, several years bamboo which molded so bad from rains and humidity. Neither worked.

You gave me a perfect solution. I do have a couple of questions. Do I need to paint or treat the wood with anything and also how do you figure out how to do the webbing?

Worth... I am so glad I found this thread. Awesome set up. I was just going to start a thread asking about tepee's. One year I tried pvc, several years bamboo which molded so bad from rains and humidity. Neither worked.

You gave me a perfect solution. I do have a couple of questions. Do I need to paint or treat the wood with anything and also how do you figure out how to do the webbing?

Thanks for sharing. : )

You know I was going to stain this stuff blue but forgot and remembered after I had the web on.
You can buy this stuff treated or untreated your choice.
When you go down to get it make sure it is nice and straight with no bends or any knots in it that are very big.
If there is it will just break.
I will get some with defects if I know I am going to be cutting it in short pieces.
I also dont always buy treated lumber to use outside.
That is what paint and stain is for.
Treated lumber is also many times soaking wet when you buy it so it has to dry out before you can paint it.

As for the web.

The best way for me to describe what I did is to do a pictuer.

But the clove hitch needs to be learned.
Clove hitch.

Back later with drawing.

Worth

__________________Home ofCactus FlatsBotanical Gardens.
The dinner table is where we need to get acquainted not the battlefield.
I Seek The Truth.

Okay here is what I did on the fly and took almost to the minute an hour.
Get your roll of twine and set it next to you.
Tie the string to the top of one of the legs and go around the top and tie it back to the leg you started from.
It is easier to do this if you cut the string to the length you need.
Tie clove hitches on each leg as you go around to each leg.
Do the same thing to the next one.
Now figure out where you want the opening to be and tie your string to that side.
Go around as you did before but stop at the other leg on that side.
Keep doing this all the way down the Tepee.
Don't try to make the string super tight as it will just suck the legs in and make the one you just did sag.

I found the best way to figure out how much string you need for each horizontal line is to tie it to the first leg and drape it around the Tepee and add some before you cut it.

Now that you have this done you can start on the vertical string.
Start in the middle of the top string and cut enough string to go to the bottom and add a foot.
Tie the string to the top string.
Now without pulling tie it to the next horizontal string but as you do it lift up on the horizontal string a little.
Keep doing this all the way down.
You will get the hang of tying the string as you go along and get better at it.
Do the same thing to the left and right of the middle string and you are done with that side and you can move on to the next one.

Yes you can add more braces, you can use wire, you can make the web different, you can do a lot of things.
What I wanted to do was make one that cost the very least amount of money I could think of.
The absolute most important thing to not do is split that wood if you do it is junk.
Drill pilot holes and dont over tighten the screws.
The pilot hole in the sticks should be just big enough for the screw to slide through or a wee tiny wee bit smaller.

Now that you see how this is done you can tell by looking at the pictuer how I did the opening.
String cutting hint dont try to cut at a 90 degree angle to the string cut a little at an an angle and the knife will zip right through it.
This is where one of those open and close with on hand knives comes in handy.
In and out of the pocket in a flash with one hand.
Worth

Thanks so much Worth! I appreciate you taking the time to tell and show me to do this. Thanks for saying you staked them down too. The one year I put up a bunch of bamboo tepee's and didn't realize you had to stake them down. Was not nice when the tornado winds came through and took down everything. I fully admit I am lacking in building skills, so appreciate folks who share. Especially love having something look decent and don't cost an arm and a leg to build.